Thursday, December 06, 2012

Review: The Ellie Hardwick Mysteries by Barbara Cleverly (audio book)

Barbara Cleverly is
probably best known for her historical Joe Sandilands series set for
the first few books in India. The
Ellie Hardwick Mysteries is a collection of five short
stories, starring mid-twenties, Suffolk-based architect Ellie
Hardwick, first published between 2003 and 2006 in crime and women's
magazines.

Love-Lies Bleeding
is set in a Norfolk stately home run by a charity. The repair of a
staircase leads to a discovery which requires Ellie to solve a
paternity question from several hundred years ago and to do a sort of
exorcism.

Here Lies is the
first of two stories set in a Suffolk church. Ellie discovers the
dead body of a woman lying on one of the church's tombs. Her identify
is swiftly established; she was about to marry into a local, ancient
family. Someone didn't want her to it seems. Ellie does a bit of
sleuthing and Inspector Jennings is introduced.

A Threatened Species again has Ellie visiting a Suffolk church
where she discovers a dead body in the belfry. She calls Inspector
Jennings out and again does a bit of investigating. (This story has
also appeared in The Best British Mysteries IV edited by Maxim
Jakubowski.)

A Black Tie Affair
has Ellie invited to a swanky evening do at a manor hall she's been
working on, owned by a property-developer. Inspector Jennings is her
date and they stumble on a body whilst looking round the house...
This time round it's Jennings who puts the pieces together.

Die Like a
Maharajah, tales Ellie to India on a tour. One of the group is an
insufferable woman who upsets everyone, so it's no surprise when she
dies. Murder or accident though? Only Ellie has the answer.

This is an enjoyable
collection of short whodunnits, which range from 30 to 60 minutes
long. Ellie is a traditional amateur sleuth with occasional back-up from the
capable Inspector Jennings. My favourite of the five stories was A
Threatened Species which has
Ellie and Jennings working together to solve the mystery. I would
like to read more about Ellie though I haven't been able to track
down any newer stories. Suzy Aitchison narrates well, giving Ellie a
fitting, perky, indomitable voice.